People making their way through uptown Waterloo this summer will notice something different about the sidewalks.
It’s not that they’ll be wider (although that is the case on King Street, if you haven’t been there in a while). It’s that they’ll be livelier.
The city’s uptown sidewalk patio pilot project, which struggled to get off the ground last year due to construction, will run this year instead. It allows participating restaurants to not only place tables and chairs outside their businesses, but to serve alcohol at them.
“We’re ready to start the patio season pretty soon,” Ryan Mounsey, the city’s senior economic development advisor, said Monday.
“We have wide sidewalks … and it will certainly activate some of the streets.”
About 10 of the 75 or so restaurants in operation in uptown Waterloo have already applied for permits to operate sidewalk patios. Lou Dawg’s Southern BBQ expects to be one of the eateries taking part.
“It will definitely increase sales … and it gives us visibility down the whole street,” said owner Darryl Weaver.
The exact timing of when patios will be allowed on uptown sidewalks will be determined based on the weather. They will likely be permitted between mid-April and mid-October.
